Hoey has been on the Board of Finance for 26 years, 19 of those as chairman. He has been vice president and director of operations for ChimeNet.com, a telecommunications technology company for the last 15 years. He and his wife, Cheryl, have lived in town for 33 years and have three adult children.

He will replace previous First Selectman Joseph Mazza, who announced in February that he would not seek re-election. After serving two terms as first selectman, Mazza’s last day in office is Dec. 4.

MacKenzie appeared at the election night Democratic headquarters about 8:30 p.m. to congratulate Hoey.

“Ken said, obviously, congratulations,” said Hoey. “He said it’s a well-earned victory and congratulations to me.

“We’ll be working together because he’s going to still be on the Board of Finance and I look forward to continuing to work with Ken and even though we have different ideas on different things that doesn’t mean that we still can’t work together and we will work together.”

Hoey says the hot button issues right now in town are the Nut Plains Pathway and the Shoreline Greenway Trail.

“Guilford is so well financially managed and that’s been demonstrated over the years and I think that’s what the voters reacted to,” said Hoey. “So I think it’s getting appropriate citizen engagement in things like the Greenway Trail or Nut Plains and making sure all stakeholders are heard from, so that when we make decisions we’re making decisions where we weigh overall community benefit against impacts in these particular cases.”

Hoey’s campaign focused on his commitment to the same fiscal approach he utilized on the Board of Finance.

“As Chairman of the Board of Finance, I’ve spent over two decades carefully watching over our costs, utilizing best business practices including cost-benefit analysis, and making cuts when reasonable, but as importantly investing in the future of the town and schools to maintain or improve our excellent services.” .